Judgment and Resurrection/Eschatology

This morning, I will talk a little about judgment and resurrection, so I thought it would be helpful to identify the eschatological (end times) areas where we have an orthodox agreement and where there is variance in the body of Christ.

First, I will make a statement that nearly all followers of Christ would agree is true in bold. Then, I will briefly mention a few differences and provide Scripture references for your study.

1. Jesus the Christ is literally and visibly coming back to the earth—this is the Second Coming (Parousia). This statement does not address when the rapture of the saints will happen. It also does not address whether Jesus will return secretly (to gather His saints) or once before His Second Coming. (See Mat 24:3-31, 1Co 15:23; 1Th 2:19, 3:13, 4:15-5:11; 2Th 2:1-8; Heb 9:28; Rev 1:7)
2. All human beings will be bodily resurrected. Some believe all will be resurrected simultaneously; others say they are separated by 1,000 years. And I am sure some argue there will be more than two resurrections. (See Dan 12:2; John 5:29; Acts 24:15; 1Co 15)
3. Human souls do not sleep. When the soul is separated from the body, it goes to either heaven or hell (some might say Hades instead of hell). Some might also take exception to excluding the word “spirit” in the statement. I think man has a body and soul/spirit (two parts, known as a dichotomy). Others believe in a trichotomy of body, soul, and spirit. (See Eze 18:4; Mat 10:28; 1Th 5:23; Heb 4:12)
4. God (the Christ) will judge all human beings. Christians do not agree on the number of judgments and the names that should be given to the judgments. The question is whether the names are different ways of referring to the same judgment or whether they are intended to create separate judgments. (See Dan 7; Mat 10:15, 25:31-46, Luke 11:32; John 3:19; 5:22; 8:14-16; Rev 20:4-6, 11-15)
5. God will create a new heaven and a new earth in the future. The disagreement occurs concerning when He does that, whether He does that when Christ returns or 1,000 years after Christ returns. (See Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2Pe 3:13; Rev 21:1-2)
6. Eternity for believers born from above is as good as it gets (new creation), and eternity for unbelievers is as bad as it gets (lake of fire). In fairness, everyone does not believe in eternal torment. There is a minority position that holds to the extinction of the soul (a position known as annihilationism). (See Psa 16:11; Mat 7:21-23; 13:37-43; Luke 13:22-30; Rev 7:15-17, 21:1-8)
7. Revelation 20:1-6 must mean something. Everyone agrees that Revelation 20:1-6 is a very important eschatological pericope written by John for the Church. After that, there are too many different views on this for this bulletin note. But we must extend liberty one to another to acknowledge the variety of interpretations in the body of Christ concerning these six verses.